Grand Rapids Named Top Minor League Market in US

Sports Business Journal on Monday named Grand Rapids-Comstock Park, Mich., as the “Top Minor League Market” in the United States!

Our market, which Sports Business Journal defines as including the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins, the Midwest League’s West Michigan Whitecaps and the NBA G League’s Grand Rapids Drive, completes its ascendency in the publication’s biennial rankings. Grand Rapids-Comstock Park ranked sixth in 2017 after claiming the final spot in the top 10 in 2015.

This is the eighth time Sports Business Journal has produced its ranking of the nation’s top minor league markets, the first coming in 2005 and then every other year since. This year’s project included a review of 211 markets, 34 leagues, 350 teams and 190.7 million in total attendance. Markets that are home to an MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, NHL, NWHL or WNBA franchise were not measured.

Grand Rapids earned its distinction based on Sports Business Journal calculations that give each market a total score, the majority of which comes from three category-specific measures: tenure rank, attendance rank and economic rank.

In the end, Grand Rapids-Comstock Park had the highest point total, and all markets were indexed against that number.

Visit sportsbusinessjournal.com for a profile of the Grand Rapids-Comstock Park market, the complete market rankings, and a full explanation of the publication’s methodology.